Starbucks plans fewer stores

Coffee chain Starbucks is to open fewer-than-expected stores next year as it faces up to the impact of higher dairy prices and a faltering US economy.

Starbucks announced a 35% rise in fourth-quarter profits, but said its US stores saw a 1% drop in customer traffic – the first decrease since it started publishing the numbers three years ago.

It denied it had oversaturated certain markets, but said it would open 100 fewer stores next year than originally forecast. The company opened 615 sites in the latest quarter and 2,571 in the financial year as a whole.

Chief executive Jim Donald said slowing the pace of US store openings would help the company chose the right markets.